Heavy rain tapered off Tuesday in western Washington after causing severe flooding that killed at least one person and stranded others who had to be rescued by police and the National Guard. Mud and rock slides blocked a number of highways and delayed an Amtrak passenger train. Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency for 18 counties, authorizing the National Guard and the state Emergency Management Division to offer assistance. Helicopters and hovercraft were pressed into service for rescues. Tens of thousands of children were give the day off from school Tuesday. Mount Rainier National Park measured more than 10 inches of rain in 24 hours. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport recorded nearly 4 inches... http://www.cnn.com

Israeli forces ended a bloody weeklong operation in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun early Tuesday, leaving behind a swath of destroyed homes, uprooted trees and streets muddied with sewage water from pipes destroyed by tanks and bulldozers.Nearly 50 Palestinians, most of them militants, and an Israeli soldier were killed in the offensive, designed to curb Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli towns. But hours after the troops pulled out, militants began firing rockets again from a field in the town. There were no reports of injuries.The army said it uncovered large amounts of weapons and killed and arrested dozens of militants in Beit Hanoun. After the pullout, forces took up new positions outside town. Eight Palestinians were killed in clashes in nearby areas, including three killed in a tank strike on a lawmaker's home....http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/07/israel.gaza.ap/index.html?eref=rss_world

The Republicans were deploying their legendary machine last night to rouse the faithful and drive up turnout for midterm elections today, with activists buoyed by polls suggesting the party had recovered some lost ground in the final hours of the campaign.In a contest that will help write the legacy of George Bush - as well as that of the man called his brain, the political strategist Karl Rove - thousands of party activists fanned out to battleground states, immersed in a $30m (£15.8m) drive to retain Republican control of Congress. For Mr Bush, yesterday was also a day of constant motion, with election stops in Florida, Arkansas and Texas to energise party loyalists discouraged by the continuing violence in Iraq, the spiralling budget deficit and a spate of sex scandals.But there was a last-minute reminder of the president's faltering appeal when a candidate from his own party decided not to show up alongside Mr Bush at a planned rally in Florida. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1941205,00.html

Panama won a seat on the U.N. Security Council with the 48th ballot Tuesday after U.S.-backed Guatemala and Venezuela, led by leftist anti-American President Hugo Chavez, dropped out to end a deadlock. Panama got 164 votes in the 192-member U.N. General Assembly, more than the 120 needed to win a two-year term starting Jan. 1 on the U.N.'s most powerful body. Venezuela got 11 votes, Guatemala 4 votes, and Barbados 1 vote. The race for the council seat, which began Oct. 16, became highly political because of the U.S. support for Guatemala and Chavez' speech at the General Assembly in September in which he called President Bush ``the devil.'' A number of countries said Chavez' anti-Bush comments hurt Venezuela's chances. Guatemala led Venezuela in all but one of the 47 ballots, but couldn't muster the two-thirds support needed to win in the General Assembly. The standoff was the third-longest battle for a seat on the Security Council in the U.N.'s 61-year history....http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6197777,00.html

A man who found 300 letters to God floating in the Atlantic Ocean said Friday he will donate them to a church instead of selling them on eBay following protests from religious people.The letters, sent to a deceased Baptist clergyman, mysteriously wound up in a sealed plastic shopping bag near a beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey.Bill Lacovara, an insurance adjuster from Ventnor, New Jersey, said he waded out to get the bag while on a fishing trip last week.The letters were addressed to the Rev. Grady Cooper of Jersey City, New Jersey, who died in 2004. Someone cleaning his house may have discarded the bag, which Lacovara found about 100 miles from Cooper's residence...http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/07/unanswered.prayers.reut/index.html?eref=rss_us

Americans voted on Tuesday in elections for Congress that could curb the power of George W. Bush's Republicans, force a change of direction in Iraq and shape the legacy of a U.S. president with two years left in office. Democrats are on course to recapture control of the U.S. House of Representatives from Republicans for the first time since 1994, opinion polls showed, with their chance of taking over the Senate hinging on several key races that are too close to call. A majority for the party in even one chamber of Congress could slam the brakes on Bush's second-term legislative agenda, hasten his lame-duck status and give Democrats a chance to investigate his most controversial policy decisions, such as the war in Iraq. Polls opened at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT) in some areas of the eastern United States and will start to close at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT), but it could be hours before results are known in many crucial races...http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061107/pl_nm/usa_elections_dc